Saturday, February 12, 2011

My daughter knows the coolest people!! One of her friends is getting married in May and because his partner, Michael, is also male, Michael family has just not jumped on the "We are so excited!!" train. But Danielle has and I have and now Ryan is finding that family can be very loosely defined. Micheal loves quilts. And in his family, it is a tradition for the family to make a quilt for the happy couple. This is not gonna happen for Ryan and Michael and when Danielle heard about this, of course, her first response was "Well, my mom will make you a quilt then!" Ah, the naivite of the non-quilter. It is a thing of beauty. But, of course, she was so right!

Ryan wants a double wedding ring quilt by May - May 2nd to be exact. Well, I may be crazy but I am not totally nuts. He will be married in Canada on May 7th and then have a big party in Nashville in August. Our agreement was that by THE FIRST WEEK IN MAY he could have a lot of progress but no finished quilt!!! He is gonna make a scrapbook of this wonderful process and will give that to Micheal for their wedding. Then, in August, they both will get to see the whole thing - done!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to have the quilt DONE in time for the party.

But, as is always the case, I can not do this alone. I put out the call to my girlfriends, told them the plan and that I needed fabric to flesh out Ryan's wish list and the response broke my heart!!! All you great girls stepped up to say "I'm in! What can I do??". I have a beautiful watercolor calligraphy a friend made me of this quote: "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof." Richard Back, Illusions Ain't it the truth!!!

I have just ordered a Cyndi Edgerton Paper piecing pattern and that will be arriving soon. I love, love, love paper piecing and I thought this would keep me organized. We'll see. . . I do love her tissue paper foundations. I had always thought not, but I make a Halloween panel she designed and the tissue was TREMENDOUS!! I am a convert!!!!

Now this is gonna be one cool quilt! I love everything about the whole idea.

Yeah, that is what family is about and Ryan and Micheal have no idea just what crazy women are now in their family. They are about to find out. I'll keep a running log of what is happening here, you all can join in the fun and Ryan will at least have some colorful pictures to show MIchael on their wedding day!